The pro-Israel community stumble to the Digital Age

Social media is a great, maybe revolutionary outlet that lets anyone say anything at any time of the day.

Netanyahu and laptop 370.
(photo credit:Courtesy)

As a Jewish teenager who has grown up in a pro- Israel bubble, I, along with
many if not most of my friends, am proudly armed with the knowledge it takes to
put forth a strong, fact-based argument for Israel’s existence and right to
defend itself. This editorial is not for the purpose of preaching pro-Israel
rhetoric. If you keep reading past this paragraph, you probably know the facts
already, and you probably share my sentiments.

The problem facing my
personal pro-Israel bubble as well as its national and international
counterparts is that more often than not, we are preaching to our own pro-Israel
choir. Our constant struggle is not formulating or articulating our message; it
is getting that message out to where it needs to be heard. Identifying the
uneducated is a tough task by itself. Educating them is exponentially
harder.

So why is it that our pro-Israel community has such a tough time
getting our message across to the masses? The age of social media is creating a
level of complacency, nay, borderline lethargy, that is thickening the outer
shell of our bubble.

Our pro-Israel community is blessed with resources
to teach us what we need to know, care, and take action. With the kind of
knowledge and communication skills we have at our fingertips, the line between
“passion” and “action” is not a hard one to cross. But in order for our masses
to cross that line collectively, we must not let the inherent laziness that is
part of 21st-century human nature create apathy among our generation that will
keep us on the wrong side of that line.

After a barrage of recent rocket
attacks on Israelis in the Negev, followed by Wednesday’s assassination of Ahmed
Jabari, the commander of Hamas’ military wing, a storm brewed among the
pro-Israel bubble on Facebook. Statuses went viral, from “wherever I stand, I
stand with Israel,” to “12,000 rockets have been launched at civilians,” and how
“you will not see that on TV.”

All true statements, and sentiments echoed
in unison throughout the pro-Israel bubble.

At face value, this was a
beautiful display of unity in a dangerous, uncertain time for our family and
friends in the land many of us call home.

Social media is a great, maybe
revolutionary outlet that lets anyone say anything at any time of the day.
However, it is simply not enough when our audience is almost entirely people who
feel the same way.

The fact is, “mainstream media” (a term I do not throw
around lightly) does not echo the sentiments of the pro-Israel community, and
more importantly, does not report the facts, either.

Posts to our social
networks will not reach the people who only read the news outlets that undermine
our very efforts.

My generation, the up-and-coming generation of our
movement, is at a crossroads as we become fully immersed in the digital age. We
must shape ourselves into the new leaders of our movement; Status posting does
not qualify as leadership. We must live our message, not simply transmit
it.

One particularly disturbing snippet of social media I stumbled across
Wednesday rightly commended the pro-Israel community for their passion, but
missed the point of how to effectively use that passion to make a difference. It
said, “A status can change everything.”

Let me be clear: I do not
discourage expression on social media. It does no harm, but it in no way
“changes everything,” and to think it does is naïve, and potentially dangerous.
An attitude that reflects this naiveté will send our generation down a slippery
slope that leads to a lack of will to take legitimate action. As a community,
our passion inspires me. But the thought that copying and pasting a status is
what will pass for “making a difference” is disturbing at best, and scary at
worst.

There is a level of complacency that turns into indolence in
merely re-posting or “liking” someone else’s social media. It’s the difference
between “marching” in 1963 and “occupying” in 2012. Occupying is passive; by its
very nature it tells you to sit back and wait for something to happen. Guess
what. It’s not going to happen.

Don’t occupy; march. Marching is active.
It brings your voice into places it otherwise never would have reached. Dr.
Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “you pray with your feet.” Such are the differences
between copying and pasting a status, and taking up a pen, a phone, or even that
same keyboard you were going to use to copy and paste, write an original,
impassioned thought and share it with the world.

Back in my parents’ day,
writing in to newspapers was known as the “power of the pen.” That’s right, they
actually had to write a letter (on paper), put it in an envelope, send it off,
and wait for a response, to even have a chance at their voices being
heard.

Today, it’s as easy as trolling the comments section on a news
site or calling in to a talk show; things that can be done in literally a half
hour or less. In a country defined by freedom of expression, there are endless
options afforded to us to relay the truth to the masses. To the impassioned
Israel advocate reading this: I implore you to take a few minutes out of your
week and write to your representatives, get in touch with pro- Israel
organizations, or comment on an article.

If you’re particularly fervent,
you don’t have to stop there. If a socially handicapped Harvard dropout could
create Facebook in his dorm room, we can come up with new, creative ways to get
our message across that will shape the future of Israel’s existence.

The
list of ways to make a difference is a long one, but simply reposting social
media is not on it. We must not hesitate to take the next step.

We in the
United States of America are privileged with what most of the world is not: free
press, free speech, and uncensored access to the Internet. We must go farther
than the bare minimum to make our voices heard to those who wouldn’t otherwise
hear our side of the story. It doesn’t sound like much because it’s so easy, but
I guarantee you it will reach more uneducated people than that status you
“liked.”

Posting to our own personal bubble is a start. But if it’s all
we do, we are doing our passions a disservice. If our generation doesn’t get our
act together before we fall down the slope to complacency, our children won’t
have a Jewish homeland to defend. Don’t like, lead. As Gandhi said, “be the
change you want to see in the world.”